Da Emma: Perfection in simplicity

Lesley Chesterman, Gazette Fine-Dining Critic11.14.2012

Emma Risa is chef and co-owner, along with husband Lorenzo Aureli, of Da Emma. Her Roman cuisine is remarkable for its simplicity and quality-product-driven style.Marie-France Coallier / The Gaze
/ The Gazette

Lightly stuffed and presented in a puddle of pan juices, the melting veal breast is simply marvellous.Marie-France Coallier / The Gaze

Served piled in a bowl, sprinkled with rosemary, the rabbit was lightly browned on the outside and succulent within.Marie-France Coallier / The Gaze
/ The Gazette

Da Emma’s 130-seat basement space in Old Montreal is framed in stone walls, and the low-beamed ceilings add a grotto-like feel of intimacy.Marie-France Coallier / The Gaze

Truth be told, this idea of hot and not restaurants is a complete waste of time. I can list a bunch of so-called “trendy” restaurants that get heaps of attention, and yet at the end of the day, most of them are quite small and not always that full. The real success stories on the Montreal restaurant scene are not the establishments that come on with a bang of newness, but those that carry on strong despite their advanced age.

In that oldie-but-goodie category I place the restaurants that manage, after decades in business, to still pack ’em in by the hundreds. Places like Gibby’s, La Cantina, Milos, Moishes, L’Express, Au Petit Extra and many more. And to that group I add the fabulous Italian restaurant Da Emma, which come April will celebrate its 20th anniversary.

Opened in 1993, Da Emma was originally located on the corner of St. Laurent Blvd. near St. Viateur St. The owners were — and still are — Lorenzo Aureli and his wife, Emma Risa, two restaurateurs who hail from Rome, where Aureli’s grandmother owned a restaurant.

I will never forget being in Da Emma’s dining room one night in those early days, sitting next to the glam French movie star couple of Tchéky Karyo and Isabelle Pasco on one side, and a large Italian family celebrating a baptism on the other. Talk about your contrasts! And Da Emma still draws a bevy of celebrity diners, many of whom appear — alongside Emma — in photographs in the restaurant’s entranceway.

In 1998, Da Emma up and moved to cool new quarters on the western edge of Old Montreal in a 19th-century building that once housed a women’s prison. The 130-seat basement space is framed in stone walls, and the low-beamed ceilings add a grotto-like feel of intimacy.

Tables are dressed simply in white linen, and the wooden chairs that surround them look like they came from a posh Italian parlour. There’s a large bar on one end of the room, popular with solo diners, and a glassed-in wine cellar directly across it where oenophiles can admire the wide array of Italian vinos on offer before taking the plunge.

Da Emma has been reviewed in these pages four times: once by the late Helen Rochester, once by Brian Kappler, and twice by yours truly, the first being in 2000, and the second in 2005. After rereading all those reviews, there’s no denying that not much had changed on the plate at Da Emma. Now, seven years later, could that still be the case? I booked a table for a recent Saturday to find out.

“Tonight, we refused over 90 requests for reservations,” said my waiter, Hamadi, while showing me to my table. Already at 7:30, every seat is taken with the kind of slick/suave/seemingly moneyed clientele that would be the envy of any restaurateur.

Surrounded by diners young and old, I took my seat, and within seconds Hamadi arrived with the small blackboard menus and some terrific bruschetta. Grilled, rubbed with garlic and topped with just the right amount of chopped tomatoes, the bruschetta set the perfect tone for the meal to come.

Looking at the menu, I realized so many of these dishes — the antipasto, the roast lamb, the suckling pig, the meatballs, the tiramisu — had passed my lips over the years. And yet there is such perfection in the simplicity at Da Emma that I was eager to experience it all over again. And, considering the number of regulars around me who have eaten their way through this menu many times, I’m definitely not alone.

To begin, three dishes: burrata with tomatoes, marinated artichoke hearts and spaghetti alle vongole (with clams). You’d think it was silly to order any dish with tomatoes this time of year. Yet the fat slices of baseball-sized tomato showered with a basil chiffonade and sea salt on my plate were both deeply coloured and full-flavoured.

As for the burrata, think mozzarella shell filled with an unctuous centre, and the most fresh milky flavour imaginable. Regular fresh mozzarella is to burrata what Roger Moore is to Sean Connery in the Bond franchise. Does the job, granted, but a poor substitute nonetheless.

The artichoke hearts were fresh (as in not canned) and perfectly cooked, though considering the price ($10), I thought a second ingredient used to enhance the two hearts (or even a grassier olive oil) could have contributed a bit more pep. As for the vongole, it was my only disappointment of the dinner.

The spaghetti was ideally al dente and the clams were plentiful. Yet the delicate clam flesh was overly salted, and as the rest of the preparation consisted of little more than oil, parsley and garlic, that heavy salting threw everything off kilter.

Happily, the main courses were all excellent. Of the three sampled, third place goes to the roasted rabbit. Served piled in a bowl, sprinkled with rosemary, with a side of roasted potatoes, the rabbit was lightly browned on the outside, and succulent-fleshed within. Yum!

Second place goes to a dish of sautéed swordfish strips topped with chopped tomato, arugula and black olives. I’m not always that big on swordfish: When it’s overcooked, it has a texture similar to a charred pork chop. But this swordfish was sublime, both tender and fresh. And the portion was so large that I enjoyed leftovers reheated over a bowl of penne the next day. At $38, it was costly, but still, what a dish!

Yet, as good as the swordfish was, top honours go to the veal breast. Lightly stuffed and presented simply in a puddle of pan juices, the melting slices of veal epitomized the simplicity and quality-product-driven style of chef Risa’s Roman cuisine. Wow. I scooped up bite after bite, followed by sip after sip of my Marchese Antinori Riserva Chianti Classico 2008, thinking how bang-on it all was. Add to that a side of fusilli with tomato sauce and a plate of grilled zucchini and eggplant, and you have quite the generous spread for three diners.

We finished off with two classic Da Emma desserts: the caramel pannacotta and the tiramisu. Though it looks like a crème caramel, the pannacotta has none of that French dessert’s egginess. This one’s all delicious bouncy cream. And the tiramisu is equally delectable: creamy, cakey, coffee-spiked and cocoa-dusted. Who could ask for anything more?

Great food aside, the element that sealed the deal for me at Da Emma was the service. My aforementioned waiter, Hamadi, a 10-year veteran of the house, gets the award for most self-assured server in Montreal. The man can discuss the menu, is cool as a cucumber, knows how to take care of a table of three ladies and actually managed to sell me a wine $15 above my stipulated price range without annoying me.

I kid you not when I tell you he said something like, “I could serve you that $60 wine, but I can see you’re a lady with discerning tastes who would really appreciate the better one.” Hamadi, I like your style — even if that wine, sold for $29 at the SAQ, set me back $100 with tax and tip. Ouch.

(That said, Da Emma’s wine prices are not as exorbitant as many Italian restaurants. It’s just that when you look at the bottom line, which includes the markup for the restaurant — two-and-a-half times retail in this case — the tax and the tip, there can be no doubt Montrealers are paying far too much for wine in 99 per cent of the city’s restaurants.)

No doubt, the final tab at Da Emma is bound to be high. And yet, even at a time when everyone is watching the bottom line, there’s a reason why this establishment is still so popular: quality. The ingredients here are pristine, the cooking is skilled.

Best of all, perhaps, is that unlike many restaurants that wax and wane in the public’s level of interest, Da Emma remains consistent. If anything, it’s even better today than when I first dined here 20 years ago. And, Hamadi, you had me at hello.

For more food and wine talk, tune in to Dinner Rush with Lesley Chesterman on Saturdays from 4 to 5 p.m. on News Talk Radio CJAD 800.

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.